fleets: ok, I am sorry to those of you who were waiting for a Soulbound update. I was having a lot of difficulty with the upcoming Soulbound chapter, and I needed to take a little break. I actually have 4/5 of the Soulbound chapter done, so I don't think you will have to wait that long for it (again, Soulbound is my priority). In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one :)
Chapter 3: The Sealed Well
The hero was supposed to win. Fate has always ruled that those favored by the goddesses will prevail. However, the demon had power to rival those of lesser gods. They overcame Fate's ruling with overwhelming rage and defeated the hero.
The hero was no more.
- Grand Scribe Phact
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Music. A lullaby.
It's beautiful.
Sheik looked around, searching for the music. His vision was blurred and unfocused, but little by little the details began to become clearer. He was sitting in the middle of a beautiful garden, full of spring flowers that bloomed in vibrant colors. Birdsong was mixed with the trickle of a fountain nearby, and iridescent blue butterflies carelessly drifted in the wind. One of them landed on the golden harp that he'd been playing.
The lullaby stopped when he realized that he'd been the one playing it. In surprise, he stared at the harp in his hands, startled by the tune. He hummed the tune softly, picking up where he'd left off.
The ballad of the goddess.
He lifted his satin-gloved fingers again to the string. They seemed to know what to do, and they began to play the lullaby once more. He closed his eyes, getting lost in the music once more. A voice whispered to him as he played. A young woman. He had a feeling he knew her. She sounded sad, but hopeful.
Caged bird, you're trapped here within these white walls, she whispered.
Your wings are clipped, you want to fly.
Lose yourself to the music, escape this unbearable world.
Footsteps approached him, and he opened his eyes as the woman's voice drifted away. His vision was blurred again and he couldn't see their face, but somehow he already knew that they were a servant to the castle.
Castle? How do I know that? he wondered.
The servant called them by name, and a heavy feeling weighed down his chest. He sighed and rose, and the harp tinkled to a stop as he put it away. He was needed again, they told him. He followed after them with a heavy heart. Something terrible had happened.
The name.
What was the name that the servant had called him by? It hadn't sounded like 'Sheik.' In fact, he was convinced it hadn't been 'Sheik.'
He reached out towards the faceless servant. He needed to ask them.
What was his name?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Sheik. Sheik!"
Sheik's eyes fluttered open at the sound of his name. When his eyes focused, he found himself face to face with a rather angry looking Vaati. Sheik blinked a few more times, and then jolted awake, almost bumping foreheads with his pale-haired companion. Daylight was streaming through the broken walls of the crumbling tower. The campfire had long since burned out to ashes.
"Whatever happened to taking first shift?" Vaati threw his hands up in the air, outraged. "I wake up to find that night has already passed, and that you'd fallen asleep! We were lucky that nothing wandered in here and decided to eat us while we slept."
Sheik stared at him, dumbfounded, and his surprised expression only seemed to irritate Vaati more. Vaati paced around, the chain around his ankles rattling against the rocks and scraping against the sand as he did so. Meanwhile, Sheik tried to remember just what had happened last night, and his brows furrowed in confusion.
He remembered telling Vaati that he was going to take first shift. He hadn't even been particularly tired. The last thing he remembered before he'd lost his sense of the desert was a presence joining him by the campfire. It had arrived quietly like a wind, and it caused the light of the fire to flicker out so that only the dark of the night remained. He didn't remember feeling any sort of alarm as it swept into the tower, and instead he remembered an almost peaceful sense of relief as it embraced him, beckoning his eyes to close and fall into a deep sleep.
He looked at Vaati again and opened his mouth to explain, but then he closed it again and shook his head. He didn't know how to explain what had happened without making it sound crazy. And truth be told, he didn't even know if he'd imagined the presence, and that he'd simply fallen asleep because he'd been careless. "I'm sorry," he said, though he couldn't hide the puzzlement in his tone.
Vaati sighed, and then shook his head dismissively. "Next time, I'll take first shift," he said. Then, he stuck a thumb in the direction of the desert. "Anyways, get ready. Let's get a move on for our next destination. I'd rather reach the next spot before the sun gets too hot, and we don't know how far of a walk it's going to be."
Sheik nodded, and stood up and stretched. The two of them did a sweep of the tower to make sure they hadn't missed anything important or helpful, and checked what they had packed one last time. Gathering their canteens and the Scribe's book, and chewing on the leftover dried meats, Sheik and Vaati stepped out of the shade of the tower to make their way across the desert sands.
They made slow but steady progress across the dunes. The sand was difficult to walk on as their boots sunk into the loose foothold, and though they hurried somewhat out of fear of the rising sun that would only grow hotter as the day progressed, they were careful not to go too fast and exhaust themselves.
Once the tower behind them was out of sight, all they had was their faith in their compass that they were, indeed, moving in the right direction. Even their footsteps were blown away by the wind, and there were no landmarks in the empty desert for them to judge their progress. They could have been walking around in circles, but they couldn't know for sure. At one point Vaati joked that Thuban could very well have given them a faulty compass and was laughing at them now. Sheik told him to keep comments like that to himself.
Eventually, something other than sand entered their field of vision, and the two of them would have bolted towards it if it weren't for the fact that they were both completely exhausted. The sun had reached the highest point in the day, and both of their canteens were nearly empty.
Approaching it revealed the broken remnants of a town, long since abandoned and half-buried in the sand where the desert had consumed it. The stone walls of the houses were smooth from being eroded by the wind and sand, and the tiles of the roof that had once been blue were now faded of color.
"What kind of people would decide to live in a desert like this?" Vaati wondered scornfully as they walked between what was left of the buildings.
Sheik ducked into one of the buildings that was half-buried in the sand. Dried pieces of wood from a broken table stuck out from the ground. He ran his hand over the rough surface of a tapestry, so faded now that it was impossible to tell what kind of picture it used to display. "Maybe this place wasn't always a desert," he said quietly. He picked up a broken pottery fragment from a ruined shelf along the wall, and then tossed it aside. "Let's search and see if Thuban left us with anything here."
They went from house to house, checking every corner for any sign of something they could use to help them survive. After a while, Sheik felt a tug on his ankle's chains, and he turned to see Vaati pointing away from the dilapidated houses and towards some carved stones that were sticking out of the sand.
Gravestones.
"Let's check there," he said.
Sheik frowned. "I don't know…"
"Just a quick look. I have feeling there's something there."
Sheik followed his companion who made a beeline towards the largest gravestone out of the rows of stones that were sticking out from the ground. They were all slanted where they stood like they were slowly being consumed by the sand, except for the tallest one in the center. It stood straight, like it was protected against the desert by some unknown force. There was no name engraved on the tombstone.
"Here."
Sheik walked over to join Vaati, who was crouched before the tombstone. In front of him, stuck on the stone, was a blank piece of paper that somehow hadn't been blown away by the wind.
Vaati peeled the paper off the tomb and flipped it backwards and forwards, trying to see if there was anything special about it. Then, he waved a hand towards Sheik's bag. "Pass me that book we found." He took the red and gold book of the Grand Scribe from Sheik, and then opened it to the second page, behind the first one that was inked. Experimentally, he placed the new blank piece of paper into the book, and waited for something to happen.
At first, it didn't look like anything was going to happen. As they waited patiently, however, ink began to bloom on the pages, revealing words that had been invisible before. The two of them read the passage to themselves as it filled the torn page in curled writing:
May travelers find respite in the second sanctuary of the desert.
Here lies Kakariko Village, a town that once provided shelter to those who sought it. It provided a home to the Tribe Betrayed, and a home to the ones less fortunate. It welcomes those of all pasts, both noble and wicked. May you find sanctuary here.
The two of them digested the words for a few seconds, each trying to process what the book spoke of. Then, they exchanged glances and then looked back at the half-buried buildings behind them.
"I don't think it was always a desert here," Sheik murmured, gazing out at what was left of Kakariko Village. Beside him, Vaati nodded gravely.
The two of them made their way back towards the village, away from the graveyard. They continued their search for anything that Thuban may have left them.
It didn't take them long after to find that someone, most likely the black desert Keaton, had left them with provisions again. It was sitting in the middle of town, just beyond the broken blades of what had once been an impressive windmill. The provisions were below the shade of a small tent that had been propped over a well. One pile of provisions was lying on the sand beside the well, with similar contents to what had been left for them before: one large canteen of water, and a bag full of fresh food. The other, however, was hanging inside the bucket that waved precariously over the well.
Sheik had a bad feeling about the way it creaked in the wind.
Vaati, however, seemed more relieved than cautious at the sight of the provisions. He drank the last of the water from his canteen and tossed it over his shoulder, and then went over to reach the new one in the well's bucket. "Perfect. My water was just about gone."
As soon as his fingers touched the new canteen, there was the sound of snapping rope, and the bucket fell down the well along with the provisions. There was an awkward silence while both Sheik and Vaati stared blankly at where the food and water had once been, and then they both winced at the sound of the bucket smashing against the ground below them. Sheik walked over and craned his neck down the well.
"Before you say anything, that wasn't my fault," Vaati hissed between his teeth.
Sheik reassured him. "I think that was meant to happen," he said. He shaded his eyes from the sun to better look at the darkness of the bottom of the well. Then, he pointed at an object glowing next to where the bucket had fallen. "What's that down there?" he asked.
"Din damned if I know," Vaati muttered, plopping himself down on the sand next to the well. He couldn't be bothered to look at whatever it was that Sheik had found when he was upset about the provisions they'd lost. He glared bitterly at the remaining pile. "The two of us aren't going to last by sharing what's left. We barely made it here with two canteens of water."
"Agreed."
"Then why are you so calm about this?!" Vaati snapped, whipping his head over to the blond angrily. To his surprise, Sheik had dropped his bags next to the well and had climbed up it. His legs were dangling in over the edge, and there were a few thuds as he kicked something wooden inside the well. A ladder.
"Let's get back the stuff we lost," Sheik explained, and then tugged at the chain between them. "Come on, it's too early to give up."
Vaati stood up and climbed up on the edge of the well, and then looked down at the darkness uncertainly. He bit his lip with a frown. "I wasn't giving up," he grumbled. Then, he added, "This looks a lot like a trap, you know." If the provisions hanging inside a bucket that immediately fell as soon as they approached wasn't suspicious enough, the ladder that led down into the well sure was. It was almost like someone wanted them to go down there.
"Agreed," Sheik repeated, "So let's do this quickly. We need those provisions to survive. I also saw something else down there, and I want to know what it was."
Vaati looked down into the well again. From where he was, it didn't look too far down. They could get in and out in about a minute. He could also see what it was that Sheik was talking about: next to the bag of provisions that had fallen down the well, there was a small purple object that glittered in the light. It was in the shape of a lens of some kind. "Fine," he said, and then swung his legs over to the ladder to join Sheik in his descent.
While the two boys made their way down the well, the Grand Scribe's book that had been left just outside it glowed faintly, almost as though it were distressed.
Sheik and Vaati had wrongfully assumed that the written ink in the book had stopped on the first side of the page they had found. If only they had flipped it over, they would have found a warning:
A cursed creature was sealed within the well. May the journey end for those who are tempted by the treasure it guards.
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"This is pretty spacious for a well, don't you think?" Vaati asked as they jumped down from the ladder. They hadn't been able to tell, earlier, but the bottom of the well had widened out into something that almost looked like a chamber of sorts. It was about ten feet wide in diameter near the bottom.
Vaati went over to pick up the provisions that had dropped down into the well, and he muttered under his breath as he did so, annoyed that it had fallen in the first place. Meanwhile, Sheik went over to take a look at the purple object they'd seen from the top.
The object was sitting on top of a rock, and it gleamed from the sunlight that fell across it. It was a large lens with a frame that made it look like an eye with a tear. Three red spikes decorated its top to make it look like the eye's lashes, and the lens was tinted red in the center, a pupil. Sheik reached out and touched it.
As soon as he did so, the walls around them began to rumble, pulling backwards and revealing an expansive darkness beyond. The ground shook, and Vaati nearly tripped as he hurriedly made his way over to Sheik.
"That wasn't-" Sheik began, but Vaati cut him off and began to drag him back to the ladder.
"That was definitely your fault!" he shouted.
The two of them began to climb back up the ladder as fast as they could. Sheik closed his eyes, avoiding the sand that fell from the bottom of Vaati's boots as he followed his companion up the ladder, and he ignored the chain between them banging against his face as they dashed up to the surface. They were almost out of the well when an invisible force snapped the ladder in half, sending them falling back down into the abyss.
Sheik groaned, forcing himself up on his knees. His jaws clenched as he fought through the pain of the fall, and then reached over to where Vaati had fallen next to him. He crawled over and shook Vaati's shoulders. "Come on, get up," he said, and then pushed himself up onto his feet. His shoulder was burning where it had hit the ground, and his legs were shaking from the impact. He picked up the mysterious lens that had apparently triggered the well's trap, and then helped Vaati up on his feet. The pale haired teen coughed, winded from having the air knocked out of his lungs, and then his red eyes widened when they heard a low, thundering growl coming from somewhere above them.
The two boys backed away nervously, and they saw something invisible kick up the sand in the ground as it approached.
Whatever it was, it was big. And invisible.
And it sounded like it wanted to kill them.
"There goes our way out," Vaati said hoarsely, pointing out the broken ladder. It had been their only exit out of the well, and it had been shattered to pieces by the monster.
They were trapped.
"Look out!"
Sheik pushed Vaati out of the way just in time, tackling him to the ground. Within seconds, there was an explosive slam right where Vaati had been earlier, and sand sprayed in their faces from the impact. Before Vaati could catch his breath, he felt himself being pulled back in the other direction once more, and just in time, too, because another explosion rocked the earth near where he'd just been. "How did-" he gasped, and then saw Sheik looking intently through the lens he'd found in the well.
"I can see it through this," Sheik said, his voice slightly shaky from adrenaline. Though it was invisible to Vaati, Sheik could see through the lens an enormous abomination with leathery black skin, over fifteen feet in length. The creature had the body of a man, but where its legs should have been was replaced with an elongated spine that seemed to be attached somewhere in the ceiling of the far end of the well. Its wrists were severed and mangled, but its hands still seemed to follow the arms as though they were still attached.
Its face, however, was the most disturbing. Its flesh was peeled back at the neck, right where its head should have been, but the head was gone. Instead, a grotesque eye with dozens of glowing yellow pupils surrounding a larger one in the center, protruded from the flesh where its head should have been.
Sheik rapidly tried to think of their options, and what he came up with was discouraging.
The truth was, he didn't know how they would be able to beat this thing. Even if they did, they were still trapped here.
Perhaps being killed by this demon creature was faster and more merciful than dying of starvation and dehydration.
The creature roared, and the walls rumbled again, shaking down large rocks from the ceiling this time. Sheik and Vaati ran to avoid the falling debris, but it was difficult to do so with the ground shaking. As they ran, Sheik tried to keep an eye on the invisible monster.
Oh no…
"Vaati!" he cried, but he was too late to warn him. One of the creature's hands had swept towards them, and before Sheik could do anything, it had slammed against Vaati, sending him flying towards the other side of the well. Sheik was caught off balance by the chain that attached them both, and he was dragged across the sand to where Vaati had been thrown.
Struggling to remain conscious, Sheik lifted his aching head. The skin of his cheeks burned where the sand had scraped it, and he could barely lift himself up anymore. He tried to look for Vaati, but his body wasn't responding the way he wanted it to. He heard another growl nearby, almost directly over his head.
I suppose this is it, he thought sadly. Shame we never got to find out who we are…
He squeezed his eyes shut when another roar shook the walls, and he readied himself for the impact that he was sure to come. A deafening explosion pounded his ears and sand whipped up around them like a cloud.
And then…
Sheik dared to open his eyes. He opened one slowly, then the other, and then his eyes widened when he realized that he was still alive. More surprising was the now gurgled growls of a monster in pain, and the sand beside him moved like something was being dragged across its surface. He lifted his head gingerly, and was struck speechless by what he saw.
Vaati. It was Vaati.
He was floating in the air, one hand holding the magical lens to his eye and the other extended, charging up some kind of powerful energy sphere. He casually tossed the sphere towards the direction of the growls, and upon impact it gave another booming explosion.
Before Sheik could process just what, exactly, was going on, he felt himself picked up, cradled by winds, and lifted into the air along with the provisions that had fallen into the well. Soon enough they were back outside in the now-welcome glow of the sun. The blond stared blankly at Vaati who brushed sand off of his shoulders like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred just now.
The pale boy noticed Sheik staring at him, and he returned a cheeky grin. "It's too early to give up, hmm?" he asked, repeating Sheik's comment to him from earlier. He cackled at the blonde's expression, and then tossed the purple lens back towards him. "Here, keep it with that book."
Sheik found difficulty finding his voice again, partly because he was still beaten up by the monster in the well, and partly because he was still having difficulty processing what had just happened. "H-how…" he started, and then his voice died out. He tried again with a cough. "How-"
"Excuse me."
Without warning, a black Keaton materialized before them. Thuban extended his hands and flicked Vaati across the forehead, instantly knocking him out cold on the ground. Sheik rushed forward, only to fall immediately on his knees. The fight with the well-monster had taken a toll on him.
"Thuban, you bastard!" he growled, his lips pulled back into a grimace, "What did you do to him?"
The fox ignored him for a moment, their ringed tail twitching as they looked down at Vaati who was lying unconscious. Their face betrayed little emotion, but their ears flicked in a way that suggested that they were annoyed.
"Thuban," Sheik called again, dragging himself towards them. This time, he seemed to have caught the Keaton's attention. They turned their head slightly towards him, their golden eyes looking down at them severely.
"Truth must be earned, and your companion," they said, clacking their teeth together, "remembered things that were not earned yet. I did not expect the Phantom Shadow Beast's blow to unlock his potential like that."
Sheik went over Thuban's words in his head, and then became enraged when he realized what they were implying. "So you're the reason why we don't remember anything?" Sheik raised his voice, furious. "Why?! Why are you doing this?"
The look Thuban returned to him was chilling, and Sheik wondered if he hadn't pressed the mysterious Keaton too far. After all, he had no idea what the creature was capable of, and despite their appearance, he had a feeling that they were more powerful than he could comprehend. Seeing that Sheik realized his mistake, Thuban's icy stare relaxed, and his lips pulled back into a fanged grin. "You have not earned the answers to those questions, either." They knelt down beside Sheik and brushed a bandaged hand against his face in a strangely comforting gesture. Sheik wanted to shove their hand aside, but was frozen in place with what could only be described as an impressive aura. "Continue on your path, and you will find the answers you seek. This I promise you." Then, Thuban stood up and walked back towards Vaati. They spent a few seconds looking him over like a craftsman evaluating the finishing touches of their project.
Sheik ground his teeth in frustration, and then took a deep breath. Being confrontational with the Keaton clearly wasn't going to work. He tried to keep his tone level and patient as he tried speaking to the fox again. "Please, give him his memories back, at least. He deserves the memories that were returned to him at the bottom of the well. He earned them. Perhaps he didn't earn them in the way you expected, but he earned them."
At this, Thuban's head swiveled around, and for the first time Sheik saw genuine surprise on the Keaton's face. Then they grinned that wide, creepy grin, their teeth flashing gold in the sun. "Oh? Return memories of their magic? Do you think that's wise, Sheik?" they asked, and then they chuckled with their clacking laugh. The way they spoke his name was personal, almost, in the way one might address an old friend. They became more amused at Sheik's confusion, and they shook their head, snickering. "I am trying to keep both you and your companion on equal power. One cannot have an… advantage… over the other. It keeps things balanced, you see. This is for your own good."
"What does that even mean?" Sheik asked. None of this makes sense.
"You will see soon enough."
As Thuban made to leave, Sheik stopped him one more time. "Wait!" he shouted, though a part of him wondered if he was pressing his luck with the Keaton too far. Still, he didn't know when they would be able to catch Thuban again like this. This was his only chance. Boldly, he stood up on his feet and squared his shoulders. "I deserve to have at least one question answered, Arbiter of the Wastes" he said, stressing the word 'deserved,' a word that Thuban seemed to love. Using the title 'Arbiter' was a risk, since it wasn't clear what kind of relationship the Grand Scribe had with the Keaton, and it was also vague as to whether it really did refer to Thuban. Depending on the fox's answer, however, he could know for sure…
Thuban stared back at Sheik, their expression completely unreadable and unnerving from behind their cowl. They said nothing for several long, uncomfortable seconds, until Sheik began to wonder if he'd made a grave mistake. To his relief, however, Thuban seemed to find his boldness amusing, and threw their head back to laugh at the sky. They seemed to accept the title Arbiter, suggesting that they were indeed the Arbiter of the Wastes that was written in the Scribe's book.
"Deserve. Deserve?" they repeated, turning the word over on their tongue. "How insolent. Though, I suppose I can indulge you with one." They cocked their head towards Sheik, excited curiosity lighting up on their face. "Find me in your next destination. If you are able to reach it and find me there, I will answer one, and only one question, and only if the question is a good one."
Sheik nodded. While it was disappointing that they weren't guaranteed any straight answers from the Keaton, it was better than nothing. At least they were being given a chance.
Thuban disappeared, their voice drifting away like a desert mirage.
"Make it count."
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When Vaati awoke, the sun was already beginning to set, and it was clear that he had no memory whatsoever about what had happened at the bottom of the well. Upon questioning him, Sheik discovered that the last thing his companion remembered was getting slammed across the room by the Phantom Shadow Beast.
"So you're saying that the infuriating black fox appeared and saved us from the well?" Vaati asked for the twentieth time. He seemed incredulous that Thuban would go out of their way to save them, and Sheik couldn't blame him. After all, he wasn't entirely convinced that Thuban was helping them navigate the desert out of the goodness of their heart, and the words they'd exchanged earlier suggested that they were the reason why he and Vaati were in this goddess forsaken place without any memory of who they were.
Still, Sheik was disturbed by Thuban's comments regarding 'keeping the power between him and Vaati equal,' and how it was 'for his own good' that Vaati was forbidden from remembering magic.
He didn't understand what that meant, and why it would be bad for him if Vaati remembered magic since it had helped them against the monster, but there was something about the way Thuban had said it…
He didn't think Thuban was lying, and that was troubling.
And that was why Sheik decided to lie about Thuban helping them. "Yeah," he nodded slowly, "they got us out of the well."
Vaati chewed on a piece of bread that had been in one of the provision bags, and he stared at the ground in front of him with a difficult expression on his face. He didn't seem entirely convinced, but he couldn't think of any other way they could have gotten out of the well. "I don't like it," he eventually announced. He tossed a stick into the fire they'd made from the broken furniture they'd found in the deserted Kakariko village. The fire crackled in response as though to mirror Vaati's frustration.
Outside they could hear the dunes beginning to shift again in the distance, indicating the presence of the gigantic serpent. While the two of them had been nervous about it before, it didn't seem inclined to approach the village, and instead circled around it, miles and miles away. As long as they didn't step outside Kakariko during the night, they were safe.
"And we have to decide on just one question to ask it?" Vaati continued, "Did they say that it was one question each, or one between the both of us?"
"One between us both," Sheik replied.
"Ugh." Vaati kicked another branch into the fire. He leaned back against the wall of the house that they had taken shelter in, and he tossed a hand in the air exasperatedly. "There are so many questions I don't even know where to start."
Despite it all, Sheik couldn't help but smile a little at his companion's vocal complaints. He was beginning to learn that Vaati had a tendency to complain dramatically about even the smallest things, and sometimes it was so overblown that it actually lightened up the heaviest atmospheres. Just earlier, for instance, Vaati had been making a big deal about the sand that had gotten into his boots. The way he'd argued in great detail about how he was going to cut up his boots into sandals the first chance they found a knife had been chuckle-worthy.
"I'm going to ask them why they deserve to exist in my presence," Vaati muttered unhappily.
"We have all night and most of tomorrow to figure out our question. Let's brainstorm," Sheik said. He reached for a bit of charcoal from the fire, and placed it on the ground next to him to wait for it to cool. Then, took out the Grand Scribe's book and began to flip through it for a blank page. While doing so, he noticed extra writing that they had missed earlier.
It was a warning regarding the well, and he groaned inwardly. If only we'd seen that before… he thought. We need to be more thorough next time.
He decided to wait to tell Vaati about it when he was in a better mood, however. The pale teen was still upset by what had happened at the well.
"We do not have all night," Vaati scoffed. "You're sleeping in an hour so you won't fall right back to sleep after I complete my first shift."
Sheik winced, remembering how he hadn't been able to stay awake long enough to take first shift of the night. "Right," he mumbled. Considering all the weird things that they had encountered in the desert so far, however, Sheik had a nagging suspicion that he hadn't simply fallen asleep because he'd been careless. It was very possible that there was something out there that had forced him to unconsciousness, but he wasn't sure.
And then there had been that strange, unusually vivid dream. He could still hear the melody of the lullaby, and feel the satin of the gloves he wore slide against his skin.
Vaati, unaware of Sheik's troubled thoughts, flashed him a grin, and he waved a hand at the charcoal that Sheik had retrieved earlier and the Grand Scribe's book. "We do still have an hour, however," he said, "Open that book, let's pry some answers out of that desert Keaton."
fleets: not much to say here! I hope you enjoyed the chapter :) This uhmm, may have been a little rushed since I wrote it all in a single day. I might revise it one day idk.
icfehr: Ehhhh ok, this kind of makes me uncomfortable to say it but saying that Zelda's gender was 'changed' doesn't really sit right with me. Same as in Soulbound, I like to write them as being genderfluid, and regardless of whether they're 'Zelda' or 'Sheik,' they're still the same person. They prefer female or male pronouns depending on what they're identifying as at the time, and in their case they're comfortable being both she/her and he/him as long as the pronouns are being applied to the correct identity. Also I strongly believe that you can still be male while having feminine features, and vice versa.
Because of that, suggesting that they'd have some kind of trauma from it makes me a little uncomfy. (I know you meant no offense in it, but I just had to get that off my chest! Thank you for being such an involved reader though, it's important to have these questions and thoughts!)
As for speculations, pheew I probably won't be able to answer as many of them for this story as I usually do, because of the way this story will be written! As Thuban says, truth only comes to those who deserve it, and those deserving are the ones who make it to the end of their journey ;)
Serpent Tailed Angel: Memory problems are my jam, apparently. Probably because I, too, am plagued with memory problems hahaha (cries)
Well someone has to love him XD (gotta flatter yourself if no one else is going to)
